Toraji devolves into tropical depression off central Vietnam’s coasts

By Huu Nguyen &nbspNovember 18, 2018 | 11:15 am GMT+7 A street scene in the Mekong Delta province of Can Tho after a rainstorm Saturday afternoon. Photo by VnExpress/Hung Loi The storm Toraji has devolved into a tropical depression Sunday morning. Its center was about 100km to the East-Southeast of Phan Rang City of the central province of Ninh Thuan and about 200km to the East-Northeast of the La Gi Town of the central province of Binh Thuan, with a maximum wind speed of 60km/h. The tropical depression would move westward at 10km/h and is expected to reach Vietnam’s coasts from Binh Thuan Province to the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau at 4 p.m. the same day, weather stations said. It is forecasted to further devolve into a normal depression as it moves west-southwest afterwards, with wind speeds between 10-15km/h. Toraji, as the storm was internationally named, was spotted around 240km (149 miles) to the east of the coast of Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan provinces of central Vietnam Saturday night, with wind speeds of up to 75km/h. Weather experts said southern, south central coastal provinces and the southern part of Central Highlands should expect heavy rainfall of up to 150 millimeters from Saturday night until Monday due to Toraji. Le Dinh Quyet, a meteorologist from the Southern Hydrometeorological Center, said it is likely that Ba Ria-Vung Tau, around 90 kilometers to the southeast of HCMC, will be directly affected by the depression. Vietnam was struck by a record-breaking… [Read full story]